Alum Builds Solar Cookers for Afghan Refugees

It’s graduation season, and a new class of USF students will soon launch careers in law, science, nonprofits, business, and more. Almost all of them want to change the world; some already have.

This month, we’re celebrating the pioneers who are leading and succeeding with stories about USF students, alumni, and faculty committed to making a difference.

Jack Howell ’64 is leading an effort to build and distribute thousands of portable solar cookers for free to refugee families in Afghanistan who live without electricity or running water in tents and mud houses.

What makes Howell’s cookers unique is that they’re made from a material that’s common in the Bay Area but thrown away as trash: Peet’s Coffee and Tea wholesale Mylar coffee bean bags.

Subscribe to TIE’s newsletter

Our Email Newsletters

Follow TIE on Instagram

TIE is a partner of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, a public-private initiative led by the United Nations Foundation to save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women and preserve the environment by creating a thriving global market for clean cooking solutions.
Learn more at www.cleancookstoves.org.